Instrument for forming metal seals



(No Model.) 8

T. H. MALONE & A. WHITING.

INSTRUMENT FOR FORMING METAL SEALS. No. 276,058. Patented Apr, 17,1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT rrrc.

THOMAS H. MALONE, OF MILWAUKEE, AND GEORGE A. WHITING, OF NEENAH, WISCONSIN.

INSTRUMENT FOR FORMING METAL SEALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,058, dated April 17, 1883.

Application filed August10,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS H. MALONE, of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and Stateof Wisconsin, and GEORGE A.WHITING,

of Neenah, in the county of Winnebago and State ofWisoonsin, havejointlyinvented a new and useful Improved Instrument for Forming Metal Seals, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accomparo nying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side view of the entire instrument. Fig. 2 is a front view of the open jaws of the punch. Fig.3 is afrontview ofthe same jaws closed. Fig. 4 is a transverse section in line 4 4 of Fig. 1, but showing the jaws closed. Fig. 5is a longitudinal section in line 5 5 of Fig. 2. Figs. 6, 7, and 8 show the seal-band with its ends sealed together by the action of the punch.

Similar reference-letters indicate the same parts.

For sealing freight-cars and other depositories of valuable goods, one of the most con- 2 5 venient, cheap, and efficacious means yet dovised consists in the employment of a sheetmetal band the ends of which are designed to be so fastened together when in use that they cannot be separated without detection-that is to say, if an attempt be made to separate and again secure them together the condition of the metal band or the fastening device at its end will betray the attempt. In such seals the practical efficacy and value of the 3 5 device-depend, of course, upon the efficiency of the fastening and the field of invention is substantially limited to that feature of the device and to the means for producing it. Various fastenings for the purpose referred to have been brought into use by the railroad companies; but defects have been developed in practical experience. After a thorough study of the difliculty, and a long course of experimentation to completely overcome it, we have accom- 5 plished the object by an improved method of fastening or sealing such bands, (which forms the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent filed contemporaneously herewith,) and we have also invented an instrument or punch formed.

for carrying such new method into practice, which instrument forms the subject of our present application for Letters Patent, and will now be described.

In its general form the instrument resembles a pair of pliers or pinchers, consisting of two levers, A B, crossed and pivoted together near one end, so as to form a pair of powerful jaws, a b, at. that end, and a pair of divergent handles, a I), at the other end, held normally apart by a spring, 0. Cutting or shearing blades d (I may be attached to the handles, near the pivot, for convenience in trimming or cutting the sheet metal of which the seals are At its outer end the jaw (t is provided with a projecting ledge or block, 6, (clearly shown in Fig. 1,) which is made concave on its upper side, as represented in Figs. 2, 3, with a narrow transverse vertical slot, 0. (Seen in Fig. 5.) Two pivoted plates or anvils, f f, are arranged in the transverse slot 6, with a spring, f, between them, pressing them apart. The lower or pivot end of the anvils is made preferably wide, with round inner corners, and with outer corners projecting so as to come in contact with stops f to limit the movement of the anvils toward each other; butthe stops may be omitted, and the form of the anvils may be varied. The upper ends of the anvils must, however, be made narrow enough to allow them to spread apart, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, when the jaws a b are open, and to close together, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, when the jaws a b are closed. The anvils should also be set or formed so that their upper faces will incline slightly downward from the outer to the inner edge, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, 5, andimproved results will be obtained by beveling them oft on one side or on both sides, as shown in Fig. 5. The outer corners had better project slightly above the curved face of the concave block 6 when the anvils are closed together, as represented in Fig. 3. The anvils and their spring and stops are covered and concealed by a plate, 9, secured in any suitable manner to the jaw a. A stop, h, projects from the jaw a, near the pivot of the levers A B, and the sides of the block 6 are preferably raised above the inner face of the jaw from its concave portion back to the line of the stop h, as shown at i, Fig. 5. The concavity of the block 0, extends only a part of its length, and the lower portion of the concavity comes slightly below the inner face of the block immediately back of it, as shown in Fig. 5. A die, n, for stamping numbers, letters, or other symbols, is provided in the flat inner surface of the block 6, between the concavity and the stop h, and a corresponding die, m, is arranged in the jaw b to operate in connection with it. The jawb is provided with a projecting, curved, bifurcated plate, It, the

forks of which pass down behind the outer lateral edges of the anvils, and close them together when the jaws a b are closed, as shown in Figs. 3, 4. A rounded or angular projection, o, of the plate fits down upon the upper ends of the anvils when the jaws a b are closed together. The inner edges of the forks of plate It run in an inclined direction from the points of the forks inward to the ends of the projection 0, and are concaved or grooved longitudinally, as represented in Fig. 5, so that the inner edge of each fork forms two sharp inclined cutting-edges. Theedge of the projection 0 is similarly grooved.

To enable us to more clearly describe the operation of the instrument, we will here explain the construction of the seal, although it will be remembered that device forms the subject of a separate application for Letters Pat-.

cut, and is not herein claimed. The seal is shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8. It is constructed by bringing the ends of the metal strap or band T together, so as to lie flat one on the other, then cutting or punching the double metal to form two tongues, it, one oneach edge of' the hand, then bending the tongues t inward toward each other till they lie flat on the metal with their ends almost or quite touching each other, and then jamming or crushing them with such force as to completely upset the metal of which they are formed. The upsetting permanently alters the structure of the metal tongues, so that they cannot thereafter be bent out and in again without breaking, and thus any attempt to open and again close the seal will at once be detected. The figures, letters, or other symbols stamped on the sealed band are arranged upon any suitable system for the purpose of operating as checks or aids in detecting the station or point along the road where the seal may at any time have been tampered with. The perfection of the seal' consists in the thorough upsetting of the metal tongues in contradistinction to merely bending them, as heretofore practiced, and in contradistinction to forming and upsetting eyelets or burrs.

Returning, now, to the instrument, its operation in forming the above-described seal is as follows: The ends of the band are brought together, one lying flat on the other, as above described, and while in that condition are inserted between the jaws a I), endwise of the jaws, until the band comes against the stop h, which prevents'it from being inserted too far. The raised sides serve as guides to the band while inserting it. When the band is thus properly in place the jaws a b are closed. In closing, the points of the forks of plate k pass outside of the lateral edges of the band, inclosing it between them. and as they move down, their inclined double-cutting edges begin to cut out the tongues t, and at the same time bend them down. As the tongues thus begin to form and bend down, their forming ends strike'on the inclined upper edges of the anvils, and are thereby bent inward under the body of the band. Meanwhile the forks, passing down outside of the anvils, press the latter inward at the same speed at which they continue to cut out the tongues t, and the result is that the tongues, as fast as they are cut out, are carried in on the moving anvils and under the body of the band until they are doubled close together, substantially as shown in Fig. 4.. Then the operation is finished by pressing the jaws a. 'b powerfully together, which brings the projection 0 down upon the middle of the band, clamping the latter, with the tongues underneath, firmly between said projection and the upper inclined ends of the anvils, and subjecting the band and tongues to an enormous upsetting-pressure, which permanently alters the structure of the metal, as and with the results above described. The bevelin g of the upper end of the anvils greatly facilitates the upsetting of the metal, inasmuch as the narrow face thus formed presses into the tongues, grooving and permanently setting the metal, as shown in Fig. 8. The letters or figures are impressed in the end of the band by the same pressure which upsets the metal.

The block e, which is shown in the drawings as made separate from the jaw a and atterward secured thereto, may be formed in one piece with the jaw, and the form of the parts composing the instrument may be varied within such limits as will not prevent said parts from severally performing their functionsin cutting out, bending, and upsetting the sealing-tongues. Thus,forexample,the anvils may be constructed to closein ward by theoperation of other devices than the forks of plate k, and open outward by other devices than a spring, and may be arranged to slide in guides instead of working on a pivot; but the fork and spring are preferred for simplicity, and the pivoted anvils for their better and easier movement. So, also, the grooves in the forks may be omitted, and the projection 0 may be varied in form with results approximately those of the construction here referred to.

Having thus described our invention, .we claim as new- 1. The combination of the jaws, pivoted anvils, and forked cutting and upsetting plate, substantially as described. I

2. In an instrument for forming metal seals, the combination of the jaw a, provided with IlO Lil

the pivoted anvils, with the jaw I), provided with mechanism, substantially as described, for cutting the seal-band and operating the anvils, substantially as described.

3. In an instrument for forming metal seals, the combination of the jaw b, provided with the forked cutting and upsetting plate 7.", and the jaw a, provided with mechanism, substantially as described, for holding the seal-band and pressing the same against the plate 70, substantially as described.

4. In an instrument for forming metal seals, the combination of the jaw I), provided with the cutting-plate 7c, the latter having the inclined prongs, with their inner edges grooved, with the jaw (0, provided with mechanism, substantially as described, for pressing the sealband against the plate k, substantially as described.

5. In an instrument for forming metal seals, the combination of the jaw b, provided with the cutting-plate 7c, the latter having the inclined prongs, with the projection 0 between their inner ends, with the jaw a, provided with mechanism, substantially as described, for pressing the seal-band against the plate k, substantially as described.

6. In an instrument for forming metal seals, the combination of the springf with the pivoted anvils, the jaws, and a cutting-plate, substantially as described.

7. The combination of the dies on n with the instrument for cutting out, bending, and upsetting the tongues in the manner described, whereby the operations of forming the seal and marking it with its indicating number or symbol are simultaneously performed, substantially as described.

8. In an instrument for forming metal seals, the combination of the pivoted anvils, having their upper ends inclined downward from the outer to the inner corner, with the jaws and a cutting-plate having a projection, substantially as described.

9. The concave block or extension 0 of the jaw, in combination with the anvils and the plate 70, substantially as described.

10. In an instrument forformingmetal seals, the combination of the supporting and upseting anvils, having narrow or sharp faces to groove the tongues longitudinally in upsetting them, with the jaws and a cutting-plate, substantially as described.

THOMAS H. MALONE.

GEORGE A. WHITING. Witnesses J 0s. L. FIEWEGER, G. A. FIEWEGER. 

